


The Ocean Is My Sky

by KitkatAndCocoa



Category: Mermaid - Fandom
Genre: Be a good child, Don't turn into mermaids kids, Eat your Nutella, F/M, He doesn't deserve this sadness, It's not as fun as you think, RIP Gale
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-07
Updated: 2020-05-07
Packaged: 2021-03-03 04:28:03
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,858
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24048955
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KitkatAndCocoa/pseuds/KitkatAndCocoa
Summary: Gale and Alex are married and happily living at home. But a mistake at Alex's work place causes a huge accident to turn their lives inside out.
Relationships: Gale/Alex





	The Ocean Is My Sky

Submerged. 

Choking, drowning, the smothering feeling of complete helplessness. Suffocating alone, without a single way to escape. There is no up or down, everything is empty except for water that goes on for miles every which way. There’s nothing. 

Alex shot up in bed, gasping for air, her phone alarm playing “Let’s Misbehave” from the 1920s. Coughing roughly and holding herself upright, her body shook and trembled like a shaky leaf. “Urgh...” She mumbled, vision blending from blurry to clear. She was in her bedroom, with Gale, her husband, not in some sort of drowning situation. She clenched the part of her shirt where her pounding heart was, then took a couple calming breaths to steady herself. She didn’t usually have nightmare’s like this, but of course, there was a first or second for everything. Alex got out of bed, noticing the time. “No dawdling” She muttered to herself, then cast a look at the bed again, a smile tugging onto her face at the sight of Gale. He was shifting a little, probably disturbed from his own sleep by her movement. He was strong, she would give him that. Every time she went to work, he never complained. 

After all, she was sworn to secrecy with most of the scientific projects she was involved in. She saw Gale open his eyes a little.  
“Noo,” he murmured, sitting up. “It’s like 3 am.”  
“On call babe.” Alex yawned, slumping into the bathroom, flicking the bright light on for Gale to be blinded by. Gale winced as it spilled out of the bathroom, fully woken up by the intense attack on his retinas. It took him a few minutes to work up the strength to climb out of the bed. 

He walked into the bathroom and wrapped his arms around her, kissing her on the cheek.  
“I guess good morning, Cocoa,” he mumbled.

“You’re messin’ up my makeup.” Alex whined, pausing her delicate brushing of her eye lashes with the black mascara stick. She glanced at him, sleepily smiling. Her long, wavy, chocolate hair spilled over her shoulders like a fudge fountain, paired with her intense emerald colored eyes. In the bathroom LED light Gale could see the faint scars along her olive skin.  
“I’m gonna mess up some breakfast for myself,” he muttered as he stepped away, moving out of the bathroom to go into the kitchen. He, unlike Alex, had ginger hair and blue-grey eyes, pale skin and a lanky figure.  
“K byeeeee.” Alex quietly said from the bathroom, then resumed her preparations for being presentable. Gale smiled. “Why are you so adorable?” he called back as he grabbed a pack of Pop-Tarts. He glanced up at the box of chocolate he had stashed up on the fridge, wondering if Alex had found it behind the blender and bag of chips. Of course, she had found it, but had been kind, and only took a bar from it. Alex at the moment had finished her makeup, done her hair up in a high tight bun, and was pulling on her stark white lab coat and clipping on her shiny badge. 

He sighed as he finished up his Pop-Tart, glad she had been kind enough to leave some for him. Though it wasn’t really necessary, since most of the chocolate he brought home was for her. He knew she would probably eat most of it. If he didn’t feel like sharing, he’d just eat it while driving home, since he was used to getting home a few hours after Alex, so she hopefully, though he doubted it, wouldn’t notice him being ten minutes later. His schedule was flexible anyways, so he could show up at home anywhere from 5-6 pm.

Coming out of the bedroom and into the living room, Alex, all dressed in her sleek work clothes, sighed sleepily. “Coffee.” She murmured, slowly trailing into the kitchen. Their home was small, but not enough to be counted as tiny. It was a one floor complex with neighbors next to them, a small open kitchen with creamy colored walls and a carpeted living room. Gale smiled back at her, and offered her an already made cup of coffee.  
“Made it just the way you like it,” he said. Alex liked her coffee dunked in creamy milk and mixed with a couple spoonfuls of sugar. The happy spark in her eyes was worth seeing so early in the morning.  
“Thanks.” She sipped it, even though the temperature was not supposed to be drinkable yet. Gale moved next to her and leaned against her a little, before he moved away.  
“No problem, just have a good day doing your classified stuff. I’m gonna go get some more beauty sleep once you go, so I don’t fall asleep in the middle of my work day.” Alex gave him a nod, and a smile before downing her coffee. Gale moved and lay down on the couch, watching her as he used the armrest as a pillow. Ever since they had bonded more through time, Alex had become much more used to his gaze and touch, which had improved their relationship tenfold. It was no longer fragile. 

Alex finished her coffee, put the cup in the sink, then grabbed a piece of meat from the fridge, stuffed it in her mouth, and grabbed her bag from the stool. She checked her phone, then stuffed it in her bag as well. She turned to Gale,  
“Byeee.” Gale waved goodbye to her.  
“Buh-bye, love you,” he said, closing his eyes and snuggling into the couch.  
Little did they know. 

Alex jumped into her car, opening the garage and pulling out into the very early morning darkness. It was cold, wet, damp, and quiet. At least she didn’t have to deal with as much traffic. Gale fell asleep on the couch, and woke up a few hours later at 6:30, getting ready for his own job. He put a piece of chocolate on the counter for Alex when she came home before he started driving to his own job. However time was going by. 

Parking in her designated spot, Alex stepped out with her bag and shut the car door, locking the vehicle with a quiet chirp. The parking lot was full, even though it was three in the morning. She entered the hospital-like building that was stark white and had fences all the way around the perimeter. The guard nodded to Alex, then let her through the fence and the front door with a loud buzz. Then it locked closed behind her.  
Gale, on the other hand, just strolled into the shop he worked at, setting it up for the morning, cleaning up the stuff that the closing shift had forgotten to. He almost laughed as the thought came to him that he probably didn’t have to work, since Alex’s job paid an almost obscene amount of money. But he liked having a job, and making his own money. That way he could surprise her once in a while with a gift.

Tracy, the receptionist who seemed to always have her panties in a bunch sniffed at Alex,  
“Good morning, Miss McMahon. Wing 13 is open for access today.” Alex nodded, keeping any traces of a smile from her morning with Gale absent. This place was serious, and she didn’t have time to frolic in fields of flowers when dealing with dangerous substances. That got you killed. It was called not being stupid. Alex took out her card with her face on it and number, sliding it through the door lock until the light turned from red to green. A resounding click went off, and she was able to enter the Wing 13 section. She found her desk for the day, a nice cheap but large circular table with a roller chair. Alex took out her laptop and logged into her private government-built part of the system, entering her data and reading through her day’s instructions. Apparently there was a newbie in Wing 13 today. Alex would try to avoid them. The last person who messed up because they were new got someone turned into a living blob. That was not on Alex’s schedule. 

Alex gathered up a pen, sticking it in her lab coat’s front pocket, then walked down the hall, turning a few times before entering the bio hazard room. She knew she should just get a suit on, but she just needed one thing from the room, and didn’t want to pull on the entire heavy piece of clothing onto her. What a mistake. 

She slipped inside and noticed a person in a bio-suit disecting what looked like a lionfish, three vials of chemicals next to them. Alex turned her attention to the shelf, scanning the labels and picking out the sodium nitrate combined with Titanium fragments. With her back turned, she didn’t notice the person with the fish slip on a piece of glass on the floor, sending them flying forward, arm slamming down on the metal plate holding the chemicals, and rocketing literally everything onto Alex’s back. A cold feeling was spreading through her body as she shakily turned to the newbie, who was looking completely terrified. But Alex found that she couldn’t move, her muscles were stiffening up, everything was becoming blurry. 

Gale smiled at the customer who came complaining, asking to speak with the manager. Moments like this were what he lived for, when he told them he was the manager. The look on his face was hilarious, and it was so hard to resist laughing until the man left. After he left, though, he almost died from his laughter. Then his phone buzzed, something that rarely happened.  
After a long day of work, he made it home a bit later than usual. “Sorry for taking so long,” he called into the house, before pausing with a frown. The house was dark, and the chocolate on the counter was untouched. “Lexie?” he called, a hint of fear in his voice. He tried to tell himself it was just a prank, but it was a month after the horror called April Fool’s Day. “Please, you’re worrying me.” After ten or so minutes, he pulled out his phone and called her. She might just be at work. He knew she really wasn’t allowed to use her phone at work, but he just wanted to make sure she was okay.

The feeling of absolute numbness cracked, like being in absolute blackness, and having bright white light pouring into your vision and making your head explode with pain. Alex opened her mouth to scream out an agonized scream, but it came out in a water logged swarm of bubbles. She gasped, feeling the thick water splash into her lungs, but what she didn’t feel was choking or suffocating. She breathed out, and the water left her lungs. She opened her eyes slowly, flinching at the bright lights streaming in through the...water? There were cords and little stickers holding them attached to parts of her body, two on each side of her forehead, some on her shoulders, neck, and collar bone. As Alex looked down, she let out another scream that was completely smothered by the water. Long fins and spikes were floating from her body, spikes going down her back and down her...tail. A loud ringing filled her head.  
Right before Gale lost hope, he heard the phone click as it was picked up. “OhgoodAlex, you’re okay, I was so scar-”  
“Who is this?” an unfamiliar voice asked.  
“Uh…” Gale paused for a few seconds. “Gale. Alex’s husband. What… what happened to her?”  
“We need you to come to the base. We will explain the situation when you get here.” Then the snotty woman hung up. 

Gale paused for a few moments. He was now extremely worried. Why couldn’t Alex answer the phone? He drove to the base, and was let through. He climbed out of the car and saw a woman approaching. “What happened to Alex?” he asked nervously. The woman had her hair up in a tight bun just like Alex always did hers, except the suit wasn’t a lab coat type, more a dark blue with a bunch of badges Gale didn’t understand.  
“Come with me.” Gale nodded a little hesitantly, before following her.  
“Where are we going?” he asked quietly.  
“It would be preferred if you wait on the questions until we are inside the building.” The woman didn’t seem very happy with dragging Gale into the way too serious building. Gale shut up and followed her in, not asking anything more. 

The woman led him through a high security gate, some locked doors, and down like fifteen hallways. Then stopped at a door that seemed to be more thick than the woman’s head.  
“You may enter.” The woman unlocked the pad to the side of the door, then opened it for Gale. He stepped inside, glancing around the room. To the left side was a narrow circular tube with bluish water and lots of cords, including what looked like a person, but far from a regular human. Their skin was red, white, and black, striped, spotted, and had large fins stretched out from its wrists, back, and long tail. Gale took a few steps towards it, and then froze, mouth gaping and eyes wide. He recognized the chocolate-colored hair flowing out behind the person. “A-Alex?” he murmured, hesitantly and shakily raising a hand towards the tube. But the reaction he got was not what helped his shock. The merperson suddenly thrashed in the tube, tearing off the cords in its movement and jabbing the sides with barbs. The tail slammed against the part of the tube where Gale was, startling him backwards.  
One of the scientists who had been observing cleared their throat, “Please refrain from getting too close sir.” Gale nodded a little, moving backwards and staring at Alex.  
“What happened?” he asked weakly.

The scientist who had spoken up had clear safety goggles on, a white lab coat like Alex had always worn, and a clipboard with way too much paper stuck on it. “It’s still hard to say, but from the security cameras, one of the newer people working here today spilled some combination of lethal and unstable chemicals on Alex, who was not wearing a bio hazard suit, and she almost died. However, we figured out quick enough that she needed salt water to breathe, since she had been choking on the hazard room floor, and apparently been mixed with lion fish DNA.” Gale chewed on his lip as he looked back at Alex, watching her.  
“Is there a way to change her back that you know of?” he asked nervously. The scientist sighed,  
“We don’t even know how scientifically speaking was actually changed at all. We’re doing the best we can. We called you here because we were hoping to get your help, and maybe...well.” The scientist hesitated, looking over at the now dormant merperson, its eyes closed. But the scientist knew better than to assume it was sleeping. It had sensed Gale’s presence and attacked the inside of the tube, it wasn’t going to rest.  
“I’m Donnie by the way. We were just about to transfer her to the larger tank, see it?” Donnie pointed to the right side of the room, and now that Gale looked closer, a large rectangle shaped box of sorts was there, a ladder to the other side, and a tube connecting the two tanks. The large tank was covered by a black cloth.  
“How am I supposed to help?” Gale asked. He wasn’t a science-y person. That was Alex’s thing. He was also a little nervous about the ‘maybe… well’ statement. 

Donnie tried to give Gale a weak smile, “Familiarity. She doesn’t seem to be in her right mind at the moment, and with that comes the difficulty of finding a way to turn her back. Plus, if you were able to get her back, she could even help us.” Another bang from the tube. The merperson made a sort of hissing sound, baring two rows of sharp teeth, the canines thicker than the cheap vampire movies. More like a wolf.  
“I know this is hard to think about, since getting in the water with a creature that continues to test the durability of our shatterproof glass-” Donnie cringed as it banged on the side again, “-is like swimming with sharks without a cage, but she IS your wife.” Donnie gave Gale a bit of a desperate look. “We’ll give you all the tools you need if it comes to that anyway. Right now it’s more of trying to get her to calm down. She’s currently set in a saltwater environment, but for some reason she just won’t stop attacking the tube sides and lash out at us.” Gale stared at Alex, his expression full of shock and pain. She was scaring him from her lashing out, and her new form wasn’t helping. He nodded a little, and took a few steps towards the tube, putting a hand on its side. He forced himself to ignore the banging. It was hard, since the surface vibrated through his arm from how hard she continued to hit the glass. “Would you like to help us get her into the large tank? I just need you to pull that lever there, it opens up the smaller transfer tube.” Gale nodded, pulling the lever and opening up the tube. He took a step back to give Alex some space.

For a second she didn’t seem to notice, but after a few moments of being tightly curled in a circle and pacing the tube, she saw the opening and dashed for it. So quickly that there was a swarm of bubbles, making it so they couldn’t see her for a second. Then she came out in the larger tank just as Donnie took the black cloth off. Alex was in the middle of the tank, looking disoriented by the sudden light change, her fins floating out to their full span. Her fins were huge, and Gale almost flinched at them reaching their full span. He took a few slow steps towards the tank. He reached out with a hand. “Do you recognize me?” he asked softly. Donnie watched from the side, writing things on his clipboard swiftly. However Alex didn’t even look Gale in the eyes, those slitted pupils almost glazed over as she twirled to the side with a powerful launch of her tail, checking out the corners and parts of the tank, which wasn’t much, but it was larger, and she seemed to be smelling it. Gale watched her with a sick sense of fascination. His wife had been turned into a mermaid. He put his hand on the glass. He wanted this to be fixed as quickly as possible. It was so weird.  
As soon as he hand touched the glass, Alex turned, her tail curling as her arms and fins adjusted her so she could face him, that thick scaled tail ending in a long stringy fluke that had two circle like patterns on each half, like the eyes of a predator. She bared her teeth at him, seemingly preparing to launch at the glass. Gale slowly removed his hand from the glass. “Please, you know me, Alex,” he said, trying to soothe her. “You know how dumb it would be to swim into the glass trying to kill your husband?”

Of course, if she had been thinking, she would have made a face at him and said something sarcastic like he knew she would. But this...creature, didn’t do that. It instead shot forward with a strong thrust of the back tail, and hit the glass where Gale was with full power. Donnie flinched. Gale, being caught completely off guard because of her speed, fell backwards onto his rear end. Then she seemed to have a period of disorientation, probably from hitting the glass, then turned, two pushes from her tail getting her around the side and into the bottom part of the tank where she laid there and stared. Gale climbed to his feet. “Alex, please. You know me. I love you, and I want your mind back. I’m sorry this happened to you.” He put a shaky hand onto the glass, taking a few deep breaths with his eyes closed. “Please. Where’s the kind nerd who knows too much for her own good that I know and love?” He then became distinctly aware of the scientists watching him, and flushed slightly. Couldn’t he just get torn to pieces by a mermaid with some privacy? Donnie cleared his throat, looking a bit emotional by the display.  
“U-um, we may have to have you come back for more than a few months, even a year if it means getting her...back into shape. This may take a while, if at all.” Donnie didn’t like saying it, but there was a possibility that Alex was just gone. 

Gale nodded. He tried not to let the tears he felt rising up fall as he reached the same conclusion. She might just be gone. He was tempted to climb up and jump into the tank, get it over with. He wasn’t sure if he could go long without her. But he knew she wouldn’t want that, even if she was gone. And there was also the chance that she might come back after he was gone, and he couldn’t stand the thought of that. “We’re going to get you back,” he murmured into the tank. Donnie sighed, rubbing his eyes, “Well, it’s getting late. Since you don’t have permanent security clearance yet, you can’t stay overnight even if you wanted to. But they’re working on that. You are allowed to come back in two days.” Gale felt the urge to protest. He didn’t want to leave for two days.  
“Okay, I’ll need a guide out, though,” he said, trying to shove down his emotions. These people seemed like a serious, not very emotional bunch. He’d already made an embarrassment for himself by nearly crying. He wasn’t going to embarrass himself more by actually crying. Yet. 

The same woman from before came to get him, looking just as tired as everyone else. She sternly escorted Gale out of the building, and to his car.  
“Have a nice night sir.”  
“Thank you, you too,” he said quietly as he got into his car and drove out back home. He entered the empty-feeling home, and clutched Alex’s pillow, feeling the tears start to run down his face as he began to sob. Why did this have to happen to Alex? What was wrong with them having a normal life? Or at least, as normal as it could be being married to Alex.  
Meanwhile, in the lab room Donnie was turning off the lights, and froze when he looked back at the tank. For most of the time Gale had been gone, Alex had been very dormant, but now that he looked back, she was clear eyed and looking at him, floating in the middle of the tank with teeth bared. Was she acting? What was going on!? Donnie fled the room and locked it, taking a deep breath and speed walking down the hallway. He just needed more sleep. Yeah, that was it. 

The next morning, Gale requested the rest of the week off, claiming to be sick. He lay in the cold, empty bed for most of that day, staring at the wall. He eventually sat up and went into the living room.

“Byeee.” Gale waved goodbye to her.  
“Buh-bye, love you,” he said, closing his eyes and snuggling into the couch.

Gale felt himself choke up as his tears threatened to flow again, before he let them. No one was going to see him. It didn’t matter if he bawled his eyes out. Nothing seemed to matter right now. He knew that was just stupid over dramatic stuff, but he felt like it. He left the chocolate on the counter and grabbed the box from on top of the fridge, snacking on it as he tried to fill the empty feeling in his chest with YouTube and candy.

The next day, at the base, Donnie walked into the already unlocked room to find three people in hazard suits in the room, lights on and holding what looked like buckets of fish or something. However, before Donnie could say anything, opening his mouth in horror, one of the barbs on the end of Alex’s fins stabbed straight through the white material of the bio hazard suit, blood seeping out. The man screamed, and fell into the water, the two others yelling in shock. The blood stained the water, making it hard to see, but from Donnie’s view and terror, the man may not be making it out of that tank.  
Donnie shakily dialed Gale’s number, messing up twice before getting the right dialing sequence.  
“Hello?” Gale’s numb voice came through, having cried himself out of most of his emotions already. He didn’t recognize the number, but maybe it would be nice to yell at a telemarketer.  
“GALE! I need you to come down hERE RIGHT NOW- oh god GET HIM OUT OF THERE DON’TJUSTSTANDTHEREYOUIDIOTS-” The line cut off, the sound of the ending call tone ringing gently. Gale froze, staring at the phone.  
“What the hell happened!?” he exclaimed as he stood up, quickly getting dressed and dashing into his car, and luckily for him there were no cops to pull him over on his way to the base, because his speedometer didn’t go any lower than 6 above the speed limit.

The security recognized his face and let him in, with a bit of reluctance, but Gale’s expression was enough for them to mostly leave him be. He parked his car and started running towards the base, wondering what had happened and wanting answers. The lady walked out, looking a bit confused, but willing to help Gale get inside. She unlocked the front door and ushered him into the main lobby area, which was quite blank, then into the 13th Wing, and down multiple hallways. He noticed the pattern, and started running ahead of the woman as he figured out the rest of the way. He burst into Alex’s room, looking at Alex’s tank to see what had happened. The tank itself was stained red, the water inside murky. Gale entered the room just in time to see the two men leftover besides Donnie who wore white suits dive into the water, Donnie covering his eyes in horror. Then a flash of a scaly tail, then nothing. The water inside was frighteningly still. Alex could swim through the water with only a few ripples apparently, similar to a shark stalking its prey. The three men in white bio hazard suits couldn’t be seen anymore, the one who had been injured was missing as well. Donnie looked over at Gale, a pale look of terror on the scientist's face.  
“What the hell!?” Gale exclaimed, running over to the tank. “Alex! Alex, please, don’t do this. Stop, please,” he said. “Get out!” he said as he climbed up the ladder, reaching in to grab someone and pull them out. Donnie just watched, taking frantic but weak notes. 

Gale couldn’t see anything in the water besides the fin circling the outer edge of the tank here and there. Never close to the edge where Gale was.  
“Gale! There’s a latch that opens up the top more, you could get them all out that way- B-BUT don’t let her out! She could kill us all! I know it’s hard but she’s not in her right mind!” Donnie said, voice shaking a little. He sat down at his desk a bit away from the tank, nervous. In reality, by now Donnie should have called the emergency team in to tranq Alex, but to Donnie, he would rather believe Alex was still there somewhere, and that Gale could handle it. Without getting killed. Gale nodded and flipped the latch, shoving his hands further into the tank and finding something. He pulled up, and was relieved when it had weight. It wasn’t just an arm that he had found. He pulled the person out and dumped him onto the floor quickly but somewhat gently, before reaching back in. A white gloved hand clamped onto Gale’s startling him a bit. Gale almost ripped his hand out of the grip instinctively, before getting himself to calm slightly, and pulled. It was a lot heavier than the other person. “What the hell, did you e-” Gale paused as he saw two people emerging, one of them cradling the other, who had a hole in his arm with blood dripping out. He managed to haul them out, barely managing to not fall over from the weight. He looked them over, and noticed they weren’t all injured and covered in wounds. It was just that one stab-like wound.

He looked over at the tank. “Very funny, Alex,” he muttered, shoving his head in to try and look around. Probably a really bad idea if he was wrong about this. Then he saw a tooth filled maw bared an inch or two from his face, making him shoot out of the water on instinct. The murkiness was still filled with red. Gale gasped for breath for a few minutes, before doing something only slightly dumber than shoving his head in. He slowly put his arm in the water. “C’mon, Alex. You haven’t killed anyone, so I’m assuming you either have some of your sense back and are pranking us, or you’re just not hungry and toying with us.” He hoped it wasn’t the second option. A fin of sorts, or maybe scales, brushed his hand, causing him to stiffen slightly, but he resisted the urge to pull it out. His heart rate and breathing jumped up quite a bit, though. He slowly, making sure to try and not startle her, brushed his hand on the scales, not entirely sure where on her body he was, since he couldn’t see at all. Sliding away quickly from his continued touch the feeling disappeared, but Gale wasn’t missing a hand. Not yet anyway. 

Donnie went to help the people in the white baggy waterlogged and now stained red suits, the guys strippingo out of them and helping the injured guy who was holding his arm and groaning. The man couldn’t move. “He’s probably poisoned.” Donnie mused gravely, but his features and expression showed he was relieved this was all that had happened. Then he looked back at what Gale was doing and tensed. “Gale!?” He whisper yelled. Gale flinched at this, turning and waving with the hand that wasn’t in the water.  
“I haven’t been pulled in and murdered yet,” he shrugged. “I think she’s okay now. Maybe just scared. How can we get the water cleaned out?”

Donnie bit his lip in thought, reminding Gale vaguely of how Alex would do that when she was nervous or thinking hard. “Well, we can’t open the tube connecting the two tanks because that just wouldn’t work, but if we took her out of the water..” He trailed off, looking extremely uncomfortable with taking the murderous poisonous mermaid out of the blood stained tank.  
“Yeah, that doesn’t sou-” Gale felt his body suddenly yank forwards, so fast that he didn’t have a chance to grab the side of the tank, and dove head first into the murky water. Donnie watched the splash with growing horror. Gale had barely managed to get a breath in, and was starting to panic, looking around frantically as he tried to figure out which way was up. The feeling of something brushing past him made him lose what little air he had from the suddenness of it, the water current barely touched by Alex’s movements. Gale’s on the other hand were jerky and caused red water to splash outside the tank opening. Gale felt his hand, which he thought was reaching up, touch the bottom as he felt his air running out. He pivoted and kicked off of the ground, swimming in a near-panic to the surface. He broke it, inhaling a few gasps. He clung to the side of the water tank as he tried to regain his breath. Donnie was suddenly there, yanking Gale out of the tank before Gale could say otherwise.  
“Jesus! What’s wrong with you? She’s a predator type, which means she could be tricking you.”  
Gale slumped onto the ground, barely able to get his breath as he felt his soaked clothes clutch at his skin. It was extremely uncomfortable. “I’m fine,” he muttered, more out of habit than anything else. He sat up.

From their view, Gale could see the long powerful tail curl by when it got closest to the glass, before disappearing into the murky red.  
“Okay, she’s obviously scared, so let’s figure out a way to clean up the tank without freaking her out more,” Gale said as he stood up. “Let’s not wear those white biohazard suits, since that was probably the thing that made her freak out first.” Donnie nodded weakly, and went over to the top of the tank, quickly closing the larger area with a nervous and jerky movement. “How are we going to do this without taking her out?” Gale muttered to himself. “Could we set up a way to kind of cycle water in and out? Get the dirty water out through hydraulic pressure, and the clean water in at a similar pace so that the tank doesn’t overflow or start draining?” Donnie made a humming sound,  
“That’s a fairly good idea, we may have to think of some other things too, considering we need more saltwater, and the proper nutrients too. Also...uh,” Donnie went back over to Gale, offering a hand up. “I might get fired for this. Not really for, well, this, but for not calling in a tranq team. So, could you keep this quiet?”  
Gale zipped his lips before he took the hand. “Thank you,” he said. “Salt water’s probably going to be the biggest problem, since we live in the Midwest,” he muttered as he thought. “Wait. I’m just being dumb. We need…” he trailed off. “Yeah, you know what I mean. I’m just gonna go sit in a corner before I start saying everything you’ve already thought of.” He sat down next to the tank, leaning against it a little. He felt a little better next to Alex, even if she was a fish-person who had tried to drown him like a minute ago. Donnie’s expression turned from calm and calculative to suddenly pale and nervous. He pointed at Gale, but not at Gale. Behind him.  
Gale blinked. “She’s right behind me. I know something. And I’m not giving her the satisfaction of looking and freaking out.” He closed his eyes. Then Donnie laughed, “Oh my god, she’s- okay wow.” Gale gave him a suspicious look before he finally turned around and looked at whatever the heck Alex was doing. 

Both of her hands were braced against the surface of the tank closest to Gale, showing her webbed fingers, claws, and pretty colored scales. But the most eye catching thing, and funniest, was Alex herself, licking the glass with her teeth showing. She still had a tongue, even though it was a bit pointed. Donnie wheezed, “H-holy shi-”  
“If you had wanted to see what I was going to taste like, you should have done that when you tried to drown me,” Gale said, trying not to show how amused he was. He was not good with looking stern, so he failed, laughing a little. He put his hands on the glass where her hands were. “Do you want to hold hands or something?” he asked. To Donnie’s perspective, this was the time to start taking notes, so he grabbed his paper and pen quickly. 

Alex stopped licking the glass, stared at Gale for a second, then rubbed on the surface between them like a cat, before swimming away and into the red murkiness. “Stop being adorable,” Gale muttered as he stood up. He climbed up on the ladder, peering in. “If you want to hold hands, like it looked like you wanted to, you just gotta not pull me in like that again. Or at least give me a chance to get a decent breath in.” What Gale hadn’t thought would happen however, did. A single scaled hand with sorta slimy webbing took hold of his left hand, leaving his other without. Alex didn’t surface however, either nervous, or something else, Gale couldn’t say. He stared at the shiny, beautiful hand holding his, before slowly lowering their hands into the water. “I’m sure this is more comfortable for you,” he said, relaxing a little with a sigh. This was better. She was back, although still not human. Just had to figure out how to make this work. “Can you get some tubes and saltwater to start cleaning this up?” he asked Donnie.

“Yeah, just let me order it quickly.” Donnie went over to his computer, clicking on some things. “They can be brought here tomorrow at the earliest.” His tone suggested he wasn’t happy about this, but it was the best they could do. Donnie hoped the higher ups didn’t question his orders. Gale leaned up against the ladder, letting his other arm enter the water, but not doing anything with it. Momentarily, Gale could feel the water current shift, then Alex’s hand left his, leaving him without any touch. Maybe she was still nervous. Could be. From what Gale had seen, it was like being naked. Even though she had scales. Gale snorted a little at that thought as he climbed down the ladder to the floor.  
“So what do we do now while we wait for the clean water to come?” Gale asked, looking around the room. This was the only room he really knew in this building, since the rest of it was just like a maze.

“Oh! We still have Alex’s bag with us in storage. She left it to go into the biohazard room, so it’s unharmed. I’m not sure what’s inside it though, but between you and me, I’m sure it’s interesting.” Donnie snapped his fingers, and grabbed his key card. “I’ll be right back.” and left the room. Gale glanced back at the tank.  
“You okay with us snooping through your bag?” he asked. “Just like, splash me or whatever if you don’t want us to. I’m already soaked, so it wouldn’t really matter.” He however did not get a reply. The water remained fairly still. 

The door opened again, and Donnie came in holding the brown leather bag with snake scale like patterns on it. “Here it is. Her phone was put back inside the front pocket already by the way.”  
“Got it. Not gonna check that, though. I’m sure Alex would drown me if I messed with her phone.” He opened up the bag and started looking through it. Inside were a few nicknacks, but it was about fifteen manilla folders with “CONFIDENTIAL” stamped in red on the front. Donnie whistled, “She must have been in the high up projects, I don’t even get a cool folder for this kind of work.” Gale chuckled. “I’m not going to risk reading these, so just gonna…” he set them to the side. He picked up the few nicknacks to look at them. One was a small folded picture of Gale and Alex at the beach, it looked worn, like she’d looked back at it a million times. Gale smiled a little nostalgically, before a sense of sadness washed over him. They wouldn’t be able to do stuff like that anymore. At least until they fixed this. He held the photo to his chest for a few seconds with his eyes closed, before he tucked it away in the bag as he picked up the next one to examine. It was a small carved stone in the simple shape of what may have been a wolf. It had a tiny hole through the top, meaning it could have been a necklace. Alex was never allowed to wear jewelry at work though. He turned it over in his hands as he looked at it, wondering what its story was. He hadn’t gotten this for Alex, so someone else, or herself, had gotten it. Might have just been a cool stone wolf Alex had decided to get. He tucked it away gently. “Okay, that’s enough digging through her stuff,” he said as he started putting the manilla folders back into the bag. He wondered if he could use it as a pillow while he stayed here, since he didn’t want to really leave this room.

Donnie raised a brow, then looked over at the tank. “Well, I would go home for a bit, come back on Thursday, a day from now, and by then her tank should be cleaned up. If there’s any problems, I won’t hesitate to call you.” He gave Gale a look when Gale seemed to want to argue. “Get some rest, calm down, take care of yourself. Alex can’t get your help if you’re down for the count.” Gale wrestled with his emotions for a few moments, before nodding and standing up, picking up Alex’s bag.  
“Okay. I’ll go do that.” He walked over to Alex’s tank. “I’ll be back in a day or two,” he said, putting a hand on the side. There was no answer, and Gale couldn’t see her, not even a glimpse. But once the water was cleared, maybe he could see her again. “Buh-bye, I love you,” he said softly, before he turned and left the base, having an uneventful ride home.  
The next day, parts and water were being moved into the room, men in orange and yellow reflective jackets helping each other get everything inside. From what the men had said, it was better if Alex was removed from the tank, since the outside had developed a film, which could be hazardous to her. Of course, that made Donnie call Gale.  
“Uh hey...yeah we have to move her, to scrub the inside of the tank, and I’m gonna bet more than a hundred bucks we need you here for that.”  
The men moved the secondary, smaller, rectangular shaped empty tank into the room.  
Gale nodded and said he would be there in a bit. He dressed himself up so that his clothes were more or less waterproof, before driving over with a spare set of clothes and a towel. He was let in and went into the room. “Hey, guys. Am I getting paid a hundred bucks if no one gets attacked, or am I losing a hundred bucks?” he glanced over at Donnie as he moved towards the tank. Donnie rolled his eyes,  
“We’ll see. The guys are filling the smaller side tank, but we need your help to,” Donnie made a whale movement with his body, “Flop her into the new one for us.”  
“Flop her,” Gale repeated, voice flat. “That sounds like a wonderful way to move her, when she is scared and lashes out at things that scare her.” He chuckled a little as he moved onto the ladder, putting a hand into the water as he watched the side tank fill up.

Donnie huffed, “Come on, we’re supposed to use a net. But I thought you could just flop her in. Whichever.” He shrugged, “You move her, not me. I take notes.”  
“Can I have a net? I don’t think I can hold her that well,” he said as he took one from a worker. “Thanks. Hey, Lex, we’re gonna move you into a cleaner tank for a bit. It’s gonna be a little smaller, but we’ll get you out and back into this one as soon as it’s clean, okay?” he asked the murky water. Speaking to basically nothing was a bit uncomfortable, especially with the stares from the workers. They probably never saw Alex before. Then a ripple. Alex didn’t show her face, but that was enough for Gale to know that she was close to the surface. He plunged the net in and scooped her up, straining a little. “Not to be insulting, but I think you’ve gained a bit of weight,” he said as he looked at Alex. Now that Gale had picked her up in a net, he got a better view of her facial structure, coloration, and wide eyes. She started to struggle, claws catching the net, but not Gale thankfully. Her tail was long, thick, and extremely heavy. Gale quickly moved her to the new tank, which had just been filled, setting her in with a sigh. “I’m sorry, but you are heavy now,” he muttered. The workers nearby gasped and shouted, then quieted down as Donnie gave them glares. At least they stayed a few feet away from the tank. However one more tough looking guy was still next to the tank, which had an open top, and stared down at Alex like she was a goldfish at a carnival. Alex righted herself in the water, but was unable to swim around since the tank was so small. “Dude, stop. She’s frightened, she’s already stabbed someone this week, don’t push her,” Gale said as he moved around and in between the tank and the guy.

“Uh, yeah, sure. Sorry.” The man shook his head and backed up, going where his buddies had fled to. Alex just stayed at the bottom of the tank, her tail being too long for it, and curling up and over her back. Her fins spread out enough to fill up most of the space, and a single barb stuck out of the top of the water. Her hair was floating like a cloud, and she kept her face hidden as she lay there on her stomach. She seemed ashamed. Just like the first time she had worn a swimsuit in front of Gale. Such a simple thing, but not to her. Gale glanced around, then his eyes caught on the tarp they had moved the new tank in. He grabbed it and moved it over the tank. “There we go, got some privacy now,” he said to Alex through the tarp. The sound of movement could be heard, but that was all Gale got as a thank you. She couldn’t speak, even though she tried, but Gale didn’t know that yet. He leaned against the tarp-covered tank as he watched the other tank get cleaned. He hoped Alex would feel better about her appearance soon, or at least be less ashamed. But that was up to her, and he couldn’t do anything about it.

Donnie whistled, impressed, “You handled that pretty well. I thought you were gonna get stabbed or something.” He clapped a little. The workers murmured to each other, a couple of them looking at Gale in awe. They had all been terrified of Alex, but Gale had just gone with it.  
“It’s not that impressive,” Gale said, shaking his head. He didn’t like it when multiple people praised him. “It’s just that she’s always had a soft spot for me, that’s all. I’m not special.” Then, after a few seconds, Gale realized no one was speaking. Donnie looked mildly surprised, but the workers looked afraid, nervous. Gale sighed, before turning back, wondering what Alex had done this time. It wasn’t as goofy or surprising, but she had stuck her hand out from under the top of the tarp, as if she wanted to hold his hand. Of course, to the workers, that was scary. “Oh, sorry for not paying attention to you, bebe,” he murmured as he stood up and held her hand. It felt weird, but kind of nice. Or maybe that was just him craving all kinds of touch, no matter what it felt like.

Unknown to Gale, she hadn’t wanted attention, but she had heard the discomfort and strain in his voice. That was what empowered her to act, even though all she wanted to do was hide. Donnie took some notes as a few workers ‘awwed’ at Gale. He ground his teeth a little, sure that Alex didn’t want the attention, but not wanting to be weird by being upset at them. Then a frightening hiss came from inside the tarp, startling Gale, since he was closest to the loud sound, and terrifying the workers, who backed away even more. Donnie just chuckled. “She seems quite tuned in to your emotions Gale.” This Gale had not noticed, like usual. He blinked a few times. “Yeah, she tends to know how I feel before I even know.” He grabbed the tarp and adjusted it so that he was underneath it as well, so they wouldn’t draw any attention. He turned to look at the tank, even though it was too dark underneath for his unadjusted eyes to see anything. “Is that better?” he asked quietly. “I can’t see you because I’m blind, so don’t worry about that.” Alex’s face was so close to his she could feel his breath, but she wouldn’t dare move, because that would alert him. She had her lower half of her face under water, since that allowed her to breathe. Gale took a few deep breaths to calm his still irritated emotions, and slumped forward, bumping his head gently into Alex’s and startling both of them. He jerked away with a little exclamation of surprise.

The hand holding Gale’s disappeared from his grip quicker than he could react, and a splashing could be heard as she disappeared under water. She watched him from there. “Sorry,” Gale whispered. “I didn’t see you there. How did I not notice you were so close?” he mumbled, rubbing at his eyes to try and get them to adjust faster. He started being able to make out the edge of the tank with his vision, and saw a little bit of reflection from under the water. Since the tank was so small, Alex’s fish body took up most of the space, and if Gale wasn’t careful, he could bump one of the barbs sticking out of the water. However, that was in saying that Alex didn’t move out of his way so he didn’t get poisoned first. Gale started to see the pointy things coming out of the water. He narrowed his eyes as he tried to figure out what they were, since he wasn’t the brightest bulb when it came to animal physiology. “Sharp spines to scare away predators?” he muttered, resisting the urge to reach over and try to touch one. Alex would have smacked him, if she was human. But she wasn’t. Gale was starting to make out more and more stuff, and he realized just how big Alex was, and how cramped she was in the tank. “I’m sorry you have to deal with this, I’ll get you back in the big tank as quickly as I can.” He peered out of the tarp at the other tank to see how cleaning was going.

So far, the water was almost emptied, and they were starting to scrub at the inside walls. Some of them looked spooked by the red color. Gale ducked back in, rubbing at his eyes. He had almost been blinded by that. “About halfway done,” he muttered. “Then you can actually swim around.” He got the sudden urge to be a smart aleck to his mermaid wife who had proven to be very dangerous. And, being Gale, he gave into this urge easily. “So, what’s it like being big for once?” Alex found herself making a huffing sound, which could have been a laugh. Gale wasn’t attacked, so that was good. He leaned over the edge of the tank, making sure to keep his distance from the barbs sticking out. He wasn’t entirely sure what they were, but better safe than sorry. He looked down at Alex, though he couldn’t see anything other than her brightest scales. “Gotta say, even though you’re kinda scary in this form, you are really pretty.” This of course made Alex cover her face with a webbed hand, embarrassed, and splash lightly at Gale. Not enough that she really moved, just with her other hand. “Bold of you to assume that a little water is going to let you escape my love. My love is a Terminator, coming to…” he lost track with his metaphor. “I dunno. It’s one of those horror movie monsters you can never outrun.” Alex listened to his voice, though muffled by the water. She enjoyed the sound, actually hearing what he was saying when needed. She started to relax as some time went by, the spines on her back slouched, dipping into the water. “Are you hungry?” Gale asked. “What do you want to eat?” He figured that, to what would probably be Alex’s horror, she probably wouldn’t be able to eat chocolate. But he’d never really heard about fish eating chocolate and if it was bad. It’d probably be messy.

But the mention of eating reminded Alex of the moment she had stabbed the one guy, and her spines shot back up, narrowly missing Gale’s face. He flinched backwards, inhaling sharply. “I guess that’s a no,” he muttered, breathing out a slow sigh. Alex guiltily looked away, not really able to control her extra limbs and spines yet. They reacted to her emotions faster than she could stop them. Gale caught the motion, and squatted down next to the tank. “It’s okay, you didn’t hit me. The guy you hit is okay, don’t worry.” He hadn’t actually seen the guy again, but he was probably okay. Alex didn’t move again, seemed to be either pouting, guilty, or just tired. She was all of the above, but mostly sad. If fish could cry, she would be the first. She heard a splash of something entering the water, and saw Gale offering his hand to her. “It’s not your fault, just some stupid fish instincts. I think how they keep trying to kill people is kind of fishy if you ask me.” Another watery huff, then she turned and clasped her scaly, slippery hand in his. Gale couldn’t hold it like a normal human, since the webbing in between her fingers prevented it. So he just settled for clasping at her fingertips, holding those somewhat tightly to compensate for the lack of contact. “I’m glad you sea that my jokes are funny,” Gale said, hoping she wasn’t just letting out huffs of annoyance or pity. Which was totally possible. 

But, when she was human, she had always laughed so much at his random puns, knowing he was trying hard, and threw in some of her own here and there. So maybe it was a laugh that was as close as she could get underwater. His pun-making part of the brain decided two was enough and clocked out for a bit, so Gale just leaned over the edge of the tank, holding her hand in silence for a bit. Then of course came the startling shock of Donnie’s voice,  
“It’s ready! We have the net again if you want, or a couple of the guys offered to help, since they’re relying on you to keep them safe. Fish whisperer.” Donnie shook his head, laughing.  
“She’s not a fish,” Gale muttered, before reluctantly letting go of her hand, pulling his hand free of the water. “Do you want to restrain your attack instincts for a bit, or the net again? I think it’d be a bit safer to use the net.” Alex hated nets. She hated cages, She hated tanks. But it wasn’t like Gale could help her any more than he was already trying. He was doing his best. Alex let out a strained sigh, then wondered how she would reply, since she couldn’t. After a few moments, Gale had the metaphorical light bulb. “Oooh, you can’t talk, obviously,” he muttered. “Okay. Splash me if you think you’ll be able to keep your murder instincts in check for the other guys to help get you into the larger tank, or give a thumbs up if you’re willing to… frick, can’t think of a net pun. Thumbs up if net.”

Alex immediately hated the idea of anyone else getting close to her, and tried to give him a thumbs up in the water. She hated it, but she hated the workers touching her more. “Got it. Sorry you have to deal with this,” Gale said as he shifted the tarp so he could get the net into the tank, scooping her up, arms shaking a little from the effort. The net’s handle started bending a lot more than it should have, and then it snapped, Alex hitting the ground. Donnie let out a shriek, dancing away like a ballerina. Alex immediately twisted her slimy wet body so she was wrapped around Gale’s ankles, knowing she couldn’t breathe, but trying not to panic. Her tail easily wrapped around Gale’s legs three times. Gale quickly bent down and picked her up upside-down bridal style, since he didn’t have time to brave her spines to get her in a decent position. He shifted Alex so that she was leaning on one of his shoulders so he could start to climb the ladder, though it was rough with him having to lift about 300 pounds of person and fish-person up it. She lost most of the water from her lungs, and just kinda let it waterfall from her lips in a ‘bleeeeh’ fashion. Especially with how he was holding her. Gale finally managed to reach the top, and nearly dunked her in his rush to get her into the water. What actually happened was only a little gentler to Alex. “I’msosorryareyouokay?” he asked Alex nervously, watching intently. 

She had twisted around so her spines were facing upwards, and kicked her back tail with a powerful thrust, allowing her to move deeper into the water and pace in a slow calm circle. Then she took a few deep breaths, looking relieved. She had space, she had water, and she had...no privacy. The workers and Donnie were staring, and Alex poofed out her spines completely, showing them just how much power she totally had in that situation. She even bared her teeth. Gale realized why she was agitated, and grabbed the tarp, throwing it over the tank. At least, most of it, since the very bottom and part near the ladder was uncovered. But it was better. Donnie sighed, “Well, good work everybody. You guys can go home,” he told the workers, then turned to Gale, “I’ve scheduled a time for you to officially swim in there with her, but we need to make sure she’s safe first.” Gale nodded.  
“You’re right, we want to make sure she’s not hurt or anything,” he said, glancing back at the mostly tarp-covered tank. Alex was listening, but made no effort to get their attention. “So when’s the swim time? I brought swimming stuff and a towel.”

“That depends on how she reacts to a few tests. We need to make sure you’ll be completely safe before doing so.” Donnie’s tone suggested he wasn’t going to bend on this one.  
“I’m pretty sure from the fact that I have manhandled Alex a little and haven’t been stabbed yet is proof that I’m safe. I know Alex, she-”  
“It’s security Gale. Either that, or nothing at all.” Donnie said firmly.  
“Okay. What do we need to do for that?” Gale asked, nodding a little. Donnie let out a little sigh,  
“The first one is her reactions to things being dropped in the water. Then we’ll put a live fish in there, prey type, and see what happens.”  
“Got it,” Gale said. “So let’s get this over with as quickly as possible.” He sounded a little impatient. This of course irritated Donnie a bit,  
“Gale. These tests all lead to answers on how to get her to turn back. We need as much info as we can get, so please have some understanding.”  
“Oh, okay.” Gale moved to the side. “I’m sorry. Could I help?”  
Donnie seemed to think it over, then nodded stiffly.  
“Yeah, you can drop the fish into the tank for me. And the ball. I would prefer not to be too close.” he looked a bit embarrassed by this, but after seeing the one guy get stabbed, he wasn’t excited to get personal. 

Gale nodded, going to the small fish tank and pulling out a fish with a net, before dropping it into the tank, moving the tarp so they could get a better look, wincing sympathetically since he knew Alex just wanted privacy right now. But what he didn’t realize would happen, happened. As Donnie watched, taking notes, and flinched a little. Alex had locked onto the small sunfish, eyes narrowed to slits, her spines rising up and around her as she became still and ready to pounce. Gale moved away slowly, worrying a bit. He guessed that Alex’s more fishy instincts were activating right now, so it’d be best not to disturb her or get her attention at all. She watched the small fish piddle around for about a minute, the fish themself not noticing her at all. But by the time it did, it was too late. With one powerful thrust from Alex’s tail, she propelled herself through the water and grabbed the fish, shoving it in her mouth, revealing the two rows of sharp teeth. The two thicker canines easily ripped into the sunfish, and it flailed uselessly. Gale flinched a little at the sudden movement, and the fish’s death. “Guess she likes seafood quite a bit,” he joked weakly. Donnie gave him a reassuring look,  
“This is why we need to make sure she wouldn’t accidentally hurt you. I know you believe in her, but that’s not always enough.” Gale was conflicted by this, nodding a little shakily as he watched Alex eat the fish.  
“When should I put the ball in?” he asked. Donnie perked up at this,  
“Oh, the superiors did some research on her background, and thought that putting a lacrosse ball in the tank might help her, like a simulation of sorts. Basically the ball is supposed to symbolize you, since it’s familiar, and we want to see what she does. You can put it in after she...finishes.” Donnie looked back at Alex, who was swallowing the fish entirely.  
Gale waited a few moments, before picking up the lacrosse ball and tossing it into the water with a splash. “Hope she doesn’t hurt herself with it,” he muttered teasingly.

The ball dropped into the water about a foot or so down, then started floating back up to the surface. Alex watched it, eyes still narrow, but more wide and curious. Then she turned herself upside down, spines pointed at the ball, and swam over to it. Donnie gestured for Gale to step away, and said,  
“She’s in the common lionfish defensive position. Upside down and spines pointed.” He offered.  
“Got it. So if I’m swimming with her and she turns upside down, get out,” Gale said. He moved backwards so he was next to Donnie, glancing at his notes out of the corner of his eye. Most of it was messy squiggles, similar to a doctor’s note, but some of it Gale could make out. 

Volatile when afraid.  
Affectionate to an extent to Gale  
Wary of everyone  
Predator instincts present

Alex reached out, spinning back so she was right side up, and held the yellow colored rubber ball in her hand, staring at it. Her tail curled up, and she floated in a semi circle, just entranced by the object. Gale watched with a smile on his face, relaxing slightly. She looked a little silly and adorable floating around like that, and it almost made him forget the fish. Almost. Then she started batting the ball from one hand to the other, mirroring what she used to do when she was bored, and had a lacrosse ball handy. She tilted her head, eyes glistening in interest. Gale chuckled a little, taking a few steps so he was about five feet away, where he had thrown the ball into the tank. “Want to play catch?” he asked jokingly. Donnie cleared his throat,  
“We have one more test, then I suppose we could try seeing if you can swim with her.” Gale glanced back at Donnie, not liking the ‘try’ in his sentence.  
“And what’s this test?” he asked. Donnie swallowed nervously,  
“I’m just gonna say this now, this last test was not my authority, so I don’t have a choice. They said to have her do a sort of stand off with an enemy, and sent a marine to help with the test.” He looked overly uncomfortable, not liking the situation any more than Gale did. Gale gulped a little. “Oh no,” he muttered. “Please let this work out, please let this work out.” Donnie nodded, “I can agree with that one hundred percent. I don’t know exactly who decided this would be a good idea, but I don’t think having Alex fight will get us anywhere. If not set us back.”  
“Exactly. I thought everyone who worked here was smart, even I know better than to do that,” Gale muttered, shaking his head as he glanced at the door, waiting for the marine to come in.  
“So um, I have to call the guy down. I met with him already, he seems friendly enough.” Donnie wanted to mention how the military had been pressuring him to militarize Alex, but refused to reveal how much he had been not doing his job appropriately. Alex wasn’t a fighting creature. Lionfish didn’t fight all the time. It was almost always defense. She wasn’t a weaponized mutant.  
“Okay, so things might not go that horribly,” Gale sighed, sitting down on the ground and watching Alex play with the ball. He knew her joy and interest was going to be shattered soon.

Indeed it would. After Donnie called in the marine, she dropped the ball, letting it float to the surface, and watched the muscular woman carefully. She was wearing a heavily padded suit, and had put on a mask that covered her face with tubes coming out of it to help her breathe. She nodded to Donnie and Gale before she climbed the ladder and dropped into the tank, taking on an aggressive posture towards Alex. This immediately made Alex’s spines flare out, and her eyes narrowed. She didn’t attack however, waiting and hoping the person would back off with a warning.  
Donnie chewed nervously on his pen, “Defensive warning posture. The first reaction to a threat.” The marine moved her foot towards Alex, raising her spear in an aggressive manner, but was ready to back off whenever Alex became aggressive. However she seemed ready to dodge instead of attack, and it was more of a steady step by step waiting game. Donnie shared a look with Gale, looking nervous. The woman moved closer to Alex, cornering her into one side of the tank. This got Alex’s attention, and the echoing of the marine’s breathing could be heard from the tank by Donnie and Gale. 

Then it happened. A flurry of bubbles and a few powerful thrusts from Alex’s tail, she was suddenly behind the woman, a single barb close to the woman’s neck like an assassin threatening a target. It was clear Alex didn’t want to hurt the person. The marine backed off, moving slowly towards the ladder to haul herself out, and Gale let out a sigh of relief. The marine climbed out of the tank, dripping water. She pulled off her mask. “She’s scary, but not aggressive.” Donnie nodded quickly, taking some more notes, then putting the clipboard down with a sigh.  
“Woo baby. That was kinda nerve racking.”  
The marine chuckled. “You’re not the one who had a poisonous barb to your neck. I agree.” She glanced at Gale. “So now that I finished my job, just wondering, what are you doing here?” she asked.  
“I’m her husband,” Gale said, and the woman laughed a little.  
“Oh boy, this must be a whole new test for your relationship. Anyways, I’m gonna go get some coffee, have a good day.” She left the room.  
Gale looked at Donnie. “Can I go in now? All the tests are done, right?”

“The pretests, yeah. Once you get in the water, I’ll need you to follow my instructions very carefully, and if I require you to leave the water, do it right away.” Donnie looked stern for once, and didn’t seem ready to be pushed on the subject.  
“Understood,” Gale nodded, since he could probably lose his job if he resisted. He ducked into a side room, changing into swim clothes and going up to the ladder, before sliding in. “Hello, Lex,” he said to Alex. She looked up at him, since she had been previously watching Donnie take notes. She tilted her head a little, pupils no longer as narrow and slit like. Gale ducked under the surface of the water, trying to get used to the cold of the water. He held a hand out towards Alex, though he made sure not to suddenly touch her. However she had other ideas, and for a couple seconds of watching him, the pupils of her eyes widened, similar to a cat’s. Gale paused, tilting his head to the side questioningly. He almost asked her what she was doing, but wanted to conserve his air. Then she bolted forward, and Donnie only had time to inhale for a shout before Alex was hugging Gale tightly, burying her face in his collarbone. Her tail brushed up against him, since she had to keep herself floating. Gale opened his mouth in surprise, causing him to lose a bit of his air before he shut it. He wrapped his arms around her back, resting his head on top of hers as he kicked his legs a little to get his head above the water. Since that didn’t do much with how heavy Alex was, she moved her tail a little, easily sending him to the surface. She let go, but didn’t move away. Her spines were moved as far away from Gale as possible, but it wasn’t comfortable for her. 

Gale took a deep breath before he ducked back under the water, putting his forehead to hers. He wrapped his arms around Alex’s torso. The contact of their heads being together made her purr a little, and she closed her eyes happily, enjoying the moment. This didn’t last long however, when they heard Donnie’s muffled voice apologizing continuously. “Gale get out of there- hey!” What looked like a group of soldiers had come inside, and with them was a commander of sorts, who held himself proudly and stiffly.  
“What is this? Hugging is not in the directions for the tests.” The commander snapped. Gale quickly let go and swam to the surface, trying to figure out what to say that might de-escalate the situation.  
“I’m sorry, sir,” he started. “I was… testing the scales for weak points.” He knew this explanation was dumb and obviously a lie. However, it made a little sense to the commander, who didn’t know much about the situation.  
“Hm, tricking the creature. Interesting.” The commander grunted, marching up to the side of the revealed tank and staring Alex in the eyes, who stared right back with narrowed pupils. It was hard to say how Alex felt about all this.  
“I would not recommend doing that, sir,” Gale suggested. “She’s very intelligent, and can understand human speech. Aggravating her would do nothing good.”

They were interrupted by Alex slamming against the glass, similar to what she had done from day one. Donnie sucked in a breath, more afraid for Alex than the commander. Mostly because they could tranq her at any time without entering the tank. Alex snarled, spines flaring up and teeth bared. She kept herself at the commander’s shoulder height or higher, but the commander himself didn’t flinch. Gale, however, almost jumped from fright, pressing against the wall of the tank. “Please don’t,” he whispered towards her. However she didn’t seem to be listening. She just stared the commander in the eyes, glaring, snarling, growling. The commander sneered,  
“She’s not intelligent. Just an animal. I thought you were making progress here? She’s clearly not docile or controllable.” Donnie began to sweat, hoping he didn’t lose his job, but not betting on anything good happening soon.  
“We are making progress, sir, and as long as she is not provoked, she is docile-”  
The commander interrupted,  
“I want her moved out of here. Get her a new group to watch and take notes and give tests. Escort him out of the building.” The commander ordered his men, who split into two groups, one walking over to Gale, and the other to Alex. They raised tranq guns, aiming through the slot. Donnie looked pale, but said nothing. Gale glanced at Alex nervously as he was grabbed by the soldiers and dragged out of the room. He couldn’t do anything to stop them, despite what he wanted to do.

The Soldiers by the tank shot their guns, sending tiny darts into Alex’s body, and as she thrashed her movements slowed and became weak, before she just floated there, eyes half shut.  
“Move her out. And make sure that one guy doesn’t get back in the base. He’s useless. And you.” The commander faced Donnie, who looked terrified. “You’re fired. Get out.”  
Gale let himself get taken out, trying to figure out what to do as he was shoved into his car and ordered to drive out. He drove home, and once he got there, he screamed in rage. He was so close, she was right there. He should have done something. He shoved his face into Alex’s pillow to muffle his screams.

The muffled sound of people’s brisk voices echoed through Alex’s consciousness. Her breathing echoing through the mask filled with water stuck to her face. She was flat on her stomach, limbs strapped to a moving table of sorts, the bright and intense lights above too much for her aching head. Everything faded away again.  
Meanwhile in their house, things had been broken. Gale wasn’t proud of that. He just sat in the middle of the living room, next to a broken plate he had thrown onto the ground. He needed to do something. He’d probably get shot and die for it, but he had to do something. He started making plans. He dialed Donnie’s number.  
“H-hello?” Donnie’s nervous and cracking voice told Gale that the scientist had been crying.  
“We need to help Alex get out, and away. Can you help me?” he asked. He needed someone who knew the layout so they could work out a plan.  
“Um...y-yeah, I can try. From what I know, in Alex’s bag, the folders show her work partners, so maybe she has someone who can help you from the inside.”  
“Thank you,” Gale said, managing to find the bag, and glad he had taken it home that day. He opened up the folders, glancing a bit at what she had been doing as he looked for her partners.

Molecular fusion  
Quantum Machine  
Quantum Mechanism Engine  
Molecular Destroyer

Then some names. 

Candy, partner

Lacy, partner

Dr. Brown, manager

Gale waited a few hours, until he was certain that they wouldn’t be at work, before calling Candy’s phone number. A perky voice that was a tad high pitched picked up quickly,  
“Yello?”  
“Hi, this is Gale. Alex’s husband. Do you know what happened to her?” Candy sucked in a breath,  
“Not specifically, but she’s been gone and I was really worried. Nobody would let me know what happened.”  
“She got…” Gale tried to think of some sciency way of saying it. “Turned into a mermaid. And she’s probably going to be experimented on. Obviously I’m not too keen on that, so would you be willing and able to help me?”  
“HELL YES- *Cough* sorry, it’s just me and Alex were best buddies, she always covered for me when I was sick cause the boss didn’t think we should have days off.”  
“Thank you. I’m trying to figure out a way to find her and get her out. Are there any times that the base is either empty or not really busy?”  
“Never?” Candy sounded a bit confused.  
“Got it. Do you have any idea where Alex might be transported to? Like a marine study area?” Gale asked. So trying to sneak through a mostly empty lab was not going to happen.

“Well, there’s one place like that, but it’s down in Florida. If they transport her there, you better have a plan afterwards.”  
“Okay,” Gale muttered, his plan of thought changing. He couldn’t wait and plan. He needed to get this done as quickly as possible. Or maybe he could try and wait, then escape to some island in the Carribean, where Alex could live free. “Could you get me a map of the Florida facility and this facility?” he asked.  
“Yeah sure, I’ll text it to you. Anything else?”  
“Do you know who Lacy and Dr. Brown are, and if they might help me?” he asked.  
“Oh, yeah. Don’t trust Lacy with secrets she can’t keep them. But Dr. Brown is the best. He’s like a giant teddy bear but he’s a bodybuilder. We call him Brownie. He would be happy to help.”  
“Thank you for all this. I hope nothing happens to you because of this. Once you text me, delete this message and the contacts after 30 minutes. Have a good night.” He hung up, before dialing Dr. Brown’s number.  
A deep but gentle voice picked up,  
“Hello? This is Dr. Brown.”  
“Hi, I’m Gale. Alex’s wi- husband. Do you know what’s happened to her?” he asked, nearly saying he was Alex’s wife. That would have been embarrassing. The man shuffled a little, as if sitting down,  
“Ey, she’s told me a lot about ya’ mate. She’s been gone a while, been wonderin’ where she ran off to.”  
“She hasn’t run off,” Gale said, wondering what she had said about him. But that curiosity was for another time. “She was turned into a mermaid. Are there any shipments going to Florida for the marine study area?” A humming sound, then,  
“Yeah, there’s plenty. One is larger than most, but I wouldn’t bet on that one being Alex. The packaging they do is pretty horrible, so they’ll put her in the smallest they can.”  
Gale hissed sharply. “Is there any way to confirm whether or not any of them are her?” he asked as he tried to figure out what he was going to do with their house. Couldn’t just leave it when they ran away.  
“They always put the symbol for each branch of the military on the boxes that are specifically for more confidential projects or creatures, do you know who’s controlling the system that holds her?”  
“I think it’s the marines, since one of them was involved in the testing. This one commander I didn’t get the name of, but he was stiff and arrogant. Any idea who he is?”  
“Oh.” Brown’s voice turned annoyed, “That’s Commander Drellix. He’s a real prick. Wants to do everything his way. Doesn’t have morals if you ask me.”  
“Yeah, he’s the one in charge, probably. Can you find anything on if he’s moving anything to Florida?” Gale felt a bit of excitement start to run through him. He had almost worked out a plan. Just needed this one last piece of information.  
There was a sound of computer clicking, then,  
“Oh, shoot. They’re already shipping her there right now. She’s halfway to Florida. Her box was marked with a red confidential stamp, and Drellix’s symbol, which is the marine stamp with a spear through it.”  
Gale stiffened. “Thank you, delete all evidence you have of our contact, and any other help would be nice. Have a good night.” He hung up, downloaded the map of the Florida facility, and called his brother.  
“Hey Mike, can you watch the house for a while? I’m going on a vacation with Alex. Thank you. It might be a long time, so here’s my lawyer’s contact info, he’ll consider you the owner of the house until I come back. I know you hate your apartment, so you can stay at ours for as long as you want. Just store our stuff, feel free to buy and help yourself to any food. Thanks, love ya.” He hung up. It was almost set up. He quickly bought a plane ticket to the airport closest to the Florida base, glad it was leaving in only two hours. He packed clothes and some tools that would help him, before rushing to the airport, going through security quickly and reading survival guides most of the way to Florida, figuring he might need them.

Unknown to the commander, and to Gale, Dr. Brown swapped out the drugs for Alex’s flight, and instead gave her enhancing chemicals, making her senses sharpen and keep her awake. So as the plane shook and flew over and high in the sky, she stayed wide eyed, and ready to burst out.  
Gale landed in Florida and rushed out over towards the base, glad it was next to a forest so he had cover. He found where a tree had fallen into the fence and climbed it, landing behind some cargo that was being unloaded from a plane that had just landed. He watched it with narrowed eyes, sneaking towards the plane. However, as two soldiers carried a fairly large crate out of the plane, it shook from the inside, a bang sounding, then a deep, guttural hiss. One of the soldiers yelped, snapping at the other guy, “I thought it was drugged!?” Gale’s eyes lit up at this, recognizing the stamps on the crate as he got closer. He readied a taser he had brought along, figuring it wouldn’t hurt to have something to use. He didn’t want to kill anyone. He ducked behind a crate about a dozen or so feet from the soldiers with Alex’s crate. The box shook violently again, and the soldier dropped it, cursing. “The top is loose, give me your hammer-” He was interrupted when a barb shot out from the opening lid, stabbing clean through the guy’s outstretched arm, ripping back out and letting the man scream hysterically. The other soldier looked horrified, and tried to shut the lid, but Alex slammed it off and into the guy, sending him sprawling. Soldiers from inside the plane were alerted, and called to them, “Are you guys okay!?” Gale took this as his chance to rush out, tasing one of the few soldiers not distracted by the ruckus Alex was creating, and came to the crate, peering into it.  
“Lex, it’s gonna be okay, I’ll help you,” he said softly and soothingly, trying to calm her down so she wouldn’t murder him as soon as he tried to pick her up.

She looked up at him with wide, terrified, and angry eyes. Then they softened a tad at the sight of him, and she stilled. Half of her face was covered by a sort of breathing mask, but it had water in it, connected to two heavy looking tanks. She couldn't go anywhere. Gale reached down for her, glancing up and letting out a sigh of relief as he saw most of the soldiers were helping the injured instead of paying attention to him. He grabbed the tank and picked Alex up, before he started running towards a nearby vehicle that one of the nearby soldiers had abandoned to help the man that had been stabbed. Gale put Alex in the back seat, before jumping into the car and turning the ignition, driving straight for the gate. The gate however, was closing as soldiers finally began to notice Gale’s presence, and were drawing guns. Gale put the pedal to the medal as the car jumped forward, barely managing to get through the gate, and he ducked as bullets started to be fired into the windshield. He jerked out into the street, driving to a harbor. “It’s gonna be okay,” he told Alex as he broke the windshield more so he could see. He drove straight to the harbor, not realizing how fast he was going until he tried to slow down and the car plunged over the edge. The front hit the water, crumpling the hood and making the engine smoke and sputter, plunging deeper into the water. Gale clumsily fumbled at the seatbelt to unbuckle himself, glancing back at Alex to see how she was doing.

Water was already pouring into the car at a terribly quick rate, and Alex ripped the breathing mask off, dipping her head in and breathing in, before pulling her head back out and going over to Gale, making sure he wasn’t stuck before glancing at the mostly torn apart windshield. Gale managed to unbuckle himself and swim out through the windshield, internally groaning as he saw the distance between him and the surface. His air was already running out, and he couldn’t swim up forty feet in the four or so seconds he had left. But he started anyways, hoping Alex would give him a helping hand. She did, distracted for a second by the openness of the water, but powering herself upwards to Gale, and grabbing him from the back, using her tail to thrust upward as quickly as she could. Her body was built to go sleek through the water, but Gale dragged, and it made it harder for her to save him. Gale felt dark spots showing up in his vision, and he twisted himself around so he could see Alex, putting his forehead to hers as he felt his air run out. Alex refused to lose him, seeing the surface coming closer. She held him tightly, and before they knew it, she broke the surface, choking a little and shoving Gale upwards, keeping him up and hoping he didn’t pass out. Gale’s eyes shot open and he inhaled sharply. He clung to Alex as he tried to regain his breath. “Thank you,” he murmured to Alex. He looked around, and saw people gathering around at the edge to try and see them. “I think… we should go somewhere else. Yes, I know, I’m a genius for thinking of that,” he said sarcastically. He took a deep breath and moved back under the water so Alex could breathe.

Alex breathed strongly into the water, then moved away from him and into the darker part of the water. Gale swore in his mind as he swam after her, though she disappeared from his sight almost immediately. Screw you, you can’t escape from me that easily, he thought. He realized about half a dozen seconds in that there was absolutely no way he would be able to find her, even see her with how dark it was, so he surfaced underneath the dock they had driven off of. “Please, I want to stay with you Alex,” he said as he treaded water, wishing she would show up again. A few minutes later, he started swimming out, figuring the farther he got from the dock, the more likely she was to show herself. After a bit of time, the shore was far off, and he was getting tired, however, the feeling of something slipping by his legs showed him that he wasn’t alone. He glanced over, and smiled as he saw Alex. “He… hello,” he said, gasping a little for breath. “You got any more of that stuff that turned you into a mermaid? That would be pretty handy right now.” Alex snorted, then fountained a stream of water at him playfully, coming closer so she was in front of him. Gale felt himself starting to sink more with every passing moment, barely able to keep his head up out of the water. He reached forward and grasped Alex’s tail gently, so that if she tried, she could easily escape his grasp. She slipped away, leaving him to sink farther. He didn’t know why she wasn’t doing anything to help him. “Guess you finally got tired of me,” Gale murmured as he started to sink below the surface. “Only took like 12 years.”

His mouth sunk under, and he had to take a full breath to keep himself from dying right away from drowning. He glanced around, hoping in what he thought was vain that Alex might change her mind and help him. Where did you go? What did I do wrong? He thought. However, the water was too murky to see anything, and Gale could barely see his own hands in front of his face. He tried to paddle with his hands and kick with his feet, but he was too weak, and continued to sink lower and lower into the dark depths. Then a flash. The curved red tail. A hand at the side of his face, holding up his chin as if trying to get him to move. Then a sudden feeling of rising back up. Gale glanced around, his air starting to run out. Alex? You came back? He thought as he saw the tail. Why did you leave? He wanted to ask all of these questions, but he wanted to live. His head broke through the water, being shoved up by Alex, and he gasped for breath, spitting out some salt water he had started to inhale. He looked down. “Why… why did you leave?” he asked, heaving for breath. She shoved a large, pretty shell in his face. It was bigger than his hand. He grabbed it, smiling a little. “It’s almost as pretty as you,” he teased as he held onto her. “I don’t think I can go any farther,” he said quietly. “Please help me.” Her pupils widened a little, as if just saying that was fuel enough. Then she did something surprising. She mouthed, I’m sorry. I love you. She wanted to help him, but loved him so much she didn’t want to let him go. So she wrapped her arms around him and clung to him, shoving her face into his collarbone, using her tail to keep them up so Gale didn’t have to work so hard. Gale let her support their weight, regaining his breath and holding her tightly. “It’s okay, I love you too,” he said quietly, running a hand through her hair. “There’s no rush, take as long as you want.”

Her eyes sparkled a little, in a sad way. Then she nodded to the water, as if wanting to be back in the water completely. After all, Gale’s body was mostly underwater, but his face wasn’t. “It’s okay. Don’t force yourself to dehydrate because of me,” he said, gently pushing her under the water and letting go. As soon as he pushed away from her, she scrambled, and attached to him again. She let out a sort of sigh, then used a hand to put on top of Gale’s head. What was she doing? Gale took a deep breath and ducked underwater, tilting his head questioningly at Alex. They sank a few feet, then another foot. Alex pinned all her spines back, and hugged herself to Gale, pushing her mildly rough lips to his, her tail wrapping lightly around his ankles. Gale glanced up at the surface of the water a little nervously until her lips touched his. Then he closed his eyes and leaned into Alex’s kiss, relaxing so she could do whatever she wanted. He trusted her. Of course, to her, it wasn’t really what she wanted, it was what she hoped he would remember. Because she had to leave. She had to go. He had to stay on land. There was no abandoned island. They didn’t exist. Gale held his lips to hers for 30 seconds before he felt his air running out. He wrapped his arms tightly around her, not wanting to let go. He calmed his panicking lungs. It was okay. Alex caught the momentary strained look that crossed his expression, and she gave him one last peck on the cheek before putting her forehead to his. She closed her eyes, just giving them a second. Her tail loosened and fell away from him, meaning she was preparing to send him back to the surface. Gale smiled at Alex, not realizing what was about to happen. He moved a hand to her cheek, closing his eyes again. He felt his air run out, and tried not to panic. It was okay. He was with Alex.

Then she pulled away suddenly, a rush of bubbles, and Gale broke the surface. However Alex was not anywhere he could see. It was quiet. “ALEX!” Gale exclaimed, not seeing her. “NO! PLEASE DON’T LEAVE ME!” He felt tears running down his face as he looked around. No. This couldn’t have happened. She wouldn’t do this to him. Then the sound of a motorboat in the distance.  
“Hey! There really is a dude out here! That lady was right!”  
Gale glanced over at the boat, feeling a sense of dread wash over him. She had left him. He was rescued, and he stared off at the water the entire way back to land, crying his eyes out. “W-why?” he choked out, just wanting to be with her. The guys manning the boat just gave Gale confused and empathetic looks, dropping him off at the docks, where a couple military personnel were waiting. However, Brown was with them, looking okay. Gale had the random thought he was going to be shot for what he had done, and a part of him wanted that. “A-afternoon, sirs,” he said, his tears making his voice shaky. Brown looked surprised,  
“Ey buddy, you look a bit rough. Here’s a towel. It’s okay, the commander and his men got arrested for their misuse of their work privileges.”  
Gale wiped himself off. “But… she’s gone,” he said, looking back at the ocean. Brown sighed,  
“Knowing Alex, she’ll come back mate. She always does. If she cares about ya’, she’ll come back.” 

Gale swallowed thickly, feeling his body begin to tremble from the cold, and he absently noticed he was still holding the shell Alex had given him. It was gorgeous, shiny, and completely intact. The pearlescent outside almost glowed, glinting with a mix of purples, pinks, blues, greens, and yellows. 

\- The End..................................................or is it? BUM BUM BUM!!!


End file.
